Familiarizing With Our New Area…The Coastal Bend.

Just to carry on from the last blog post,I wanted to set the stage,(so to speak) for my upcoming blog entries and follow the daily sequence's since arriving in this area.

First off,a map and scene of the general area,and I know that some readers have been in this area,but for those of you who haven't,we are located at the position of the green balloon.

For anyone interested, the live Google map in my sidebar can be used for a more concise look at the area using a satellite view and zoom,but this gives a general overview of the areas that I describe.

 

So!…Ivan and I are parked somewhere down there on 50 some odd miles of unspoiled beach that have beautiful sunrises coming out of the sea.

Going back to last Sunday which dawned a little cloudy and cool,we decided to take a drive into Corpus Christi and take our first look around.Again like many times before we both agreed just how easy it seems to be,driving around some of these Texas cities with the expressway systems that all seem to be laid out the same,both here and down in the Rio Grand Valley,using one way frontage roads on each side with U turn lanes going under the overpasses.

 

Corpus Christi seems to us to be a very clean and modern city (pop 277000) with miles and miles of beautiful beachfront and parks, which would make this place a real treasure in the summertime.They say that swimming in these waters is good until late December.If you look at the map you can see the city sits on a large protected bay,protected by Padre Island, and from the city you can hardly even see the island.

Below is some beach area where it meets the shipping area.Both of these photo’s were taken from the aircraft carrier Lexington,one from the fan tail and the other from the flight deck,showing this general area of the city’s north end.

 

Below is a ship coming out from under the bridge shown above.

 

And heading out into the bay.Padre Island can barely be seen in the background.

You will note that these photos were taken on two different days when you see both cloudy and clear skies.The reason for this is that yesterday Ivan and I took the tour of the aircraft carrier Lexington and that gave me some more photo opportunities to view the city from a different angle for this blog entry.

 

So on my next blog entry I will cover a wonderful and exhausting 6 hour, self guided tour of the “LEX”and its colourful history of battle in the south pacific during world war 2….Ivan and I were both like a couple of kids in a candy store with a look of wide eyed amazement as we climbed all over and down through the ship…. Next time.

Padre Island National Seashore…Corpus Christi Texas.

Yes I did…..Finally……After 60 days in one place,mostly in the horizontal position……Vegging…..I put the rubber to the road……Didn't go that far,just a 3 and a half hour drive to the north and a little to the east,but nevertheless,a movement.

So here I am on the beach at the Padre Island National Seashore on a (free for camping) beach.A $10.00 entry fee,(good for 7 days) gets you into the Park.

And yes,…..I have company……Actually he has company…….Me.

That's fellow blogger Ivan of Road trip 2011.He dropped in on me last week in Mission and we made tentative plans that I could hire him as my “Sacrificial Lamb”whereby he could scout ahead for some nice camping spots on the beach in the Corpus Christi area.

And if anyone can sniff out boondocking places……This guy can……He sent e-mails with pictures of several local areas and I was hooked……rubber spinning on the road.

Actually we missed one member of the group from our “Group Photo” above.And that's Hailey,Ivan's faithful travelling companion.So here goes Hailey,you get your own personal photo.So don't look so dejected.

Here’s a few local scenes of our new digs,starting with our camping spot here in the surprisingly hard packed sand.

Actually when I came off the pavement and onto the beach yesterday,I wasn't so sure I wanted to venture out,but surprisingly even the soft looking stuff was hard packed and easy to drag a trailer over…………So Far 

I found out after this bumpy ride that it would have been better to come up the beach below the tide line as its smooth like a highway,although a little corrosive I guess.You can see our nearest neighbour in the blue van….I hate it when I have crowds like this.

Lots of shorebirds.

 

In fact as we were sitting having a happy hour,I noticed about 10 different varieties of shore bird scampering along the shore line just a few yards away.

And off in the distance in this poor telephoto shot, is an oil rig,one of several in the area here on the gulf of Mexico….Not BP I hope…..Luckily last summers spill didn't come this way.

 

Note the White Pelican that was captured in the telephoto shot.

So!….We both have agreed that this spot will make a great operations base for exploring the area,as there is lots to see here.I’m looking forward to looking around Corpus Christi,a city of just under 300 thousand peeps.Coming through on the expressway,(Boy! I love these Texas highways)…It does look like a nice city.

And of course all the surrounding area both out here on the island and off,like Port Aransas,Rockport,Fulton and of course the winter home of the Whooping Crane,”Aransas National Wildlife Refuge.”All of these, a nice easy day trip away.Actually here on the Island we are about 30 minutes away from the city,just far enough away to enjoy the night-time sky.

 

So,I’ve run out of fresh photo’s….I want to spend at least a week in this area and see and tour the “Lexington”(WW 2 Aircraft Carrier),it’s high on my to-do list along with the nature tours of the area.

More on the history and layout of this beautiful island in another blog entry.Did you know its the longest undeveloped stretch of barrier island in the world.

If interested,here is a link to my present location on Google maps. http://map.datastormusers.com/user1.cfm?user=9318

Harlingen. And The Iwo Jima Memorial.

I have always had an interest in war memorials and battlefields ever since the 4 years that I was stationed in France in the early 60’s during my Air force years.

We lived in a small town called St Mard in southern Belgium while based at 1 Wing (Fighter Squadron), Marville France, a 30 minute drive away,so we actually lived in a hotbed area of WW1 and WW2 history with many battlegrounds still closed off due to the live ammo still buried there.

We used to take weekend drives to the various battle grounds and cemetery's.Bastogne Belgium wasn't very far with its famous “NUTS” museum depicting the Battle of the bulge in WW2 and the American tanks that (at that time) sat at the entrance to the town. And of course the Canadian monuments in Vimy and Ypres.

I managed to dig up a few old photo’s of that visit,with our 2 girls standing in front of the Vimy Ridge monument, back at a time just before we got our Maple Leaf Flag.

The second shot taken inside the Canadian front line trench.These slides were scanned painstakingly one winter recently by daughter Kimmie,the little blond in the photos.

 

And another shot of the front line with the girls and I standing over at the German front line,which was actually closer than what the photo shows.

So now I’ve set the blog mood for another world war memorial visit, about an hour down the Rio-Grande valley from here.

Harlingen,named after the Dutch city,is a beautiful modern city of just under 60,000 and the Iwo Jima Memorial is situated near the city airport,on the south campus parade deck of the Marine Military Academy….It is by no means small as you can see by my size next to it……Very impressive…….Not me!….It

 

 

This full scale statue was the model for the casting of the Marine Corps War Memorial at the Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia,donated by the creator “Felix De Weldon.”

Buried next to the memorial is Harlon Block,one of the six flag raisers.

The plaque can explain better than me,the story.

 

Nice detail.

A more distant view through the trees of this beautiful park setting.

It was a beautiful warm day,so after a Burger King stop back in town,I headed south to Brownsville on the border.Drove through the historic,narrow, palm lined downtown streets,unable to stop and take a photo.(Isn't that always my excuse?)

I forgot to bring my maps with me and had a hard time finding the start of the Military Highway that follows the border back to McAllen.My sense of direction finally won out, but I still win the Darwin award because I had my Garmin with me and never even thought to use it.(Insert face slap)

The drive back was more of what I call “Mexico lite”with such a huge Hispanic population here,I saw so many similar business’s and lifestyles that you see on the other side,and of course the ever popular fence along the border. And even a couple of very slow transport trucks holding up a long line of traffic…..And as I finally got to pass them……You guessed it……They were Mexican plated trucks.

And I even had a few jousting matches with a couple of Mexican plated cars over for a visit.Thank goodness my 8 years of extended travel in Mexico prepared me for this day.

This is all true,but I wanted to have a little fun talking about the people and country that I really like,with hopes that soon I can take my 9th extended trip to old Mexico,instead of just looking across….Nuf said.

Now to finish off……..Last time I showed off my (Winter Texan) tee shirt and hat,well I still needed to get something for the truck,so off to the flea market I went.

I had a choice of 2 different decals,one like the RVer from Manitoba has on his car.You can have writing of your choice.

 

Or the one that I did select, that was a little less noticeable,but can be figured out.

 

Well all my bragging about our hot weather has come back to bite me as an arctic front has settled in for the past few days, but is expected to moderate in a couple more days…..In fact at present,4AM…It is 3 degrees f. warmer at home.Bummer.

A 46f/8c degree high is unacceptable……..unacceptable……mumble mumble.

This One Is All About The Birds.

I cant be classed as a true blue birder,but I have had more than a passing interest in birding at a certain low level for many years.I enjoy trying to identify birds by the sounds I hear and I think I have a fairly good recognition ability in that regard.

This past week I finally ventured down the road here 3 miles to one of the World Birding Centre Parks in this area….This one being the Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park.In fact my daily 7AM jogging sessions take me almost half way there every day.

There are about 86 listed hot spot birding areas here in the lower Rio-Grande Valley,with 10 of them listed as World Birding Centre sites.More than I plan on visiting for awhile anyway.7 more on the Mexican side.

 

I’m still unable to identify the above…Its the little ones that really give me trouble.

The park sustained quite a bit of flood damage this past summer,so a good portion was still closed off,but its so large that my 3 hours of walking around in the available area, was quite enough.Especially at nearly 80 degrees,although overcast,….Thank goodness.

 

And of course I have to get my favourite Green Jay in early.I love their beautiful colors of (gold-green-black and blue) especially in flight.And yes I have learned to recognize their sounds and “key in” when one is near.

Another of the Mexico birds is the Great Kiskadee,a noisy bird that I hear every morning over my trailer but they stay high and move too quickly,so catching them near a feeder was my answer for a photo.And even at that they never stayed in one place very long to key in a shot.I remember these guys well last year at Teacapan Mexico.

 

They place feeding areas and viewing blinds around the park making close-ups a real treat.I had one all to myself.In the open feeding areas its enjoyable just to sit on one of the many benches provided and just wait and watch…….You don't have a very long wait.

 

These Chachalaca’s,about the size of a small chicken,are everywhere.They are another Mexican bird that you usually hear more than see when in Mexico.They sound like a bunch of crazy turkeys.I used to listen to them every morning at Celestino Sinaloa,but I never got a close up look at them until I came here.

 

I don't know the variety of that squirrel,but he is huge,twice the size of the red squirrels at home.Half the size of a ground squirrel.

Now,these Robins…I find it hard to distinguish if they are the “Clay-Coloured,”or the “Rufous-Backed” as both are in this area…See how well these in the 2nd and 3rd photo,blend in to the rocks.They are getting water from a spout sticking out.

 

And to round off we can compare the size of a Chachalaca with the size of a Red Winged Blackbird.And a Tufted Titmouse stayed still long enough for a shot through the opening of one of the viewing blinds.Cute little guys,similar call to the Chickadee.

 

All in all an enjoyable 3 hours for these tired old legs…..Most of the babble overheard from the birders that day was the sighting lately of a “Black Vented Oriole”which is usually not seen in this area…..Notice of it even made the local newspaper….The talk was that it has been seen in the RV Park across the road each morning….Much hand waving and describing of where and when was going on amongst the birders…….It made me smile….I just cant get that excited.

I did see several Altamira Oriole’s though,but not well enough to get a picture this day.So I’ll show one I took here in the valley last January.

  

Until next time.

Getting Texas-afied

Is that a new word?…Well I made it up anyway,and yes I’ve been there,done that, and bought the tee shirt……And hat…And am still here and loving it.

And yes the beard is still history……For now anyway.

I must say the weather has been way more than I expected here in the lower Rio Grande Valley.I’ve been here for over a month and a half vegetating and soaking up the heat and we haven't really had a bad day.The only rain has been overnight sprinkles and that's only been about twice as the drought conditions continue here.

I’ve kept a daily temperature record and most days are in the 80’s with a few lately still touching the low 90’s…..We have had a few times when the daytime temps dipped into the 50’s as the arctic air pushed down from the north,but would modify quickly in a day or two and shoot right back up as the warm air from the Gulf of Mexico took over again……One example,when they were freezing over in Arizona on New Years eve,our stroke of midnight temperature was 70 degrees,dipping to a cool 65 by dawn……..burrrrrr!…….And on a final note its forecast to go to 79 today……..And yes in all fairness,I have seen frost on my windshield 2 mornings since arriving here….But I love rattling the chains of my friends over in not so Arid-Arctic-Zona.

One of the reasons I picked this area this year was for the warm overnight temperatures and I have not been disappointed…….YA! I’m Texafied all right.

My time will be up here in Mission at the AmeriCana on the 22 of this month and the plan is to head over to the Corpus Christi area for a couple of weeks while I wait for the Arizona weather to warm up before heading back that way….. The after Xmas hoard has started to descend in the southland now so I don't know what will be available,but I will wing it.I’ve got new neighbours here for the first time since arriving, as for the first 6 weeks I had no one in the next 4 sites beside me,and now its full.

This past week I had a really nice visit with some blogger friends that I have known for 3 years now and usually see every year.

 

Al, Suzette and Casey their dog are from Ontario,their blog is on my side bar next to Tioga George.

They spent a week here,so we had several nice visits comparing notes as they are retracing my steps and I theirs over the next few weeks as they head west and me a bit more east and north.

I first met them Christmas day at Celestino Mexico 3 years ago when I was interested in acquiring a satellite internet system.They had the system that includes the Starchoice/Shaw direct TV bird on a wire,and that really caught my interest.The idea of setting up only one dish for both internet and TV really caught my attention.

Al and Suzette were very obliging,even thought I had invaded their space unannounced on Christmas morning,showing me all workings of the system……And I have never looked back,now having the same set up myself and very happy with it.

I finally got off my duff yesterday and went birding down the road at the Bentsen Rio Grande World Birding Centre.My birding friends would be appalled that I could vegetate for 6 weeks only 3 miles down the same quiet road from the park,……..And not visit until now?…….For shame.

I will cover yesterdays visit next time with little talk and more pic’s…..Here’s a couple more taken here in the RV Park.One right out my door.

 

A female Cardinal and a Golden Fronted Woodpecker….I’m a little disappointed that the wild Parrots have not shown up yet this winter here in the park, as last year there were over 150 of them here at this time…..Oh well, another 2 weeks to go.